ANAHEIM : Developer Named to Planning Panel

The president of the board of directors of the Building Industry Assn. of Riverside County has been named to the Planning Commission over the mayor’s protest.

Robert O. Henninger, a developer for Corona-based Foothill Properties, was appointed to the commission Tuesday on a 3-2 vote by the City Council.

“We’re putting the fox in the chicken coop when you’re putting a developer--the director of the BIA of Riverside County--on the Planning Commission,” said Mayor Fred Hunter, who voted against the appointment, along with Councilman William D. Ehrle.

Henninger, 43, said he hopes to prove the mayor wrong. “I hope that as time goes by, he would see that wouldn’t be the case,” he said.

A 12-year resident of Anaheim Hills and a former city planner, Henninger holds a master’s degree in urban planning and has worked as a planner and developer in Southern California since the late 1970s. In Riverside and Corona his major projects have been housing developments.

“Anaheim, like most cities in Southern California, has serious problems that need solutions,” Henninger said, adding that he hopes to use his talents to help solve them. This is his first appointment to a planning commission.

Councilman Tom Daly, also an employee of the BIA, nominated his colleague to the post to replace Commissioner Earl (Chuck) McBurney, who was denied the reappointment he sought.

Daly discounted the mayor’s remarks, saying that in his mind Henninger is “a very, very qualified individual.”

The position had been vacant since McBurney’s term ended June 30. Henninger was appointed to a four-year term.